Get Healthy De Soto

…having a long-lasting positive impact on the health and safety of the De Soto community by encouraging healthy lifestyle choices, through programs promoting physical activity, healthy nutrition, weight control and disease and injury prevention.

September is Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month

by Leave a Comment

On average, one person dies by suicide every eight hours in Missouri. It is the 10th leading cause of death in the state, and if you break it out by age, it is the 2nd leading cause of death for ages 15-24. Wait! Did you just skim that: suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for young people, ages 15-24. That just begs the question: how is your mental health? Even better…how’s the mental health of your teenager?

HealthyChildren.org, which is the parent outreach portion of the American Academy of Pediatrics, suggests that there are some red flags that parents should be alert for:

  • Excessive sleeping, beyond usual teenage fatigue, which could indicate depression or substance​ abuse; difficulty in sleeping, insomnia, and other sleep disorders
  • Loss of self-esteem
  • Abandonment or loss of interest in favorite pastimes
  • Unexpected and dramatic decline in academic performance
  • Weight loss and loss of appetite, which could indicate an eating disorder
  • Personality shifts and changes, such as aggressiveness and excess anger that are sharply out of character and could indicate psychological, drug, or sexual problems

These can be key indicators of larger mental health issues such as depression, substance abuse, and eating disorders. Teens with a history of such issues are at greater risk for suicide, and parents, friends, and family who identify an increased risk should provide extra supervision, support, and chances to talk.

To increase awareness, a local community leader has organized an Out of the Darkness Walk in October. The event raises money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, but it also brings community members together to raise awareness and show support for survivors of suicide. The walk is scheduled for Sunday, October 13th at Walther Park. You can learn more and join the walk by clicking here.

Event Sponsors

by Leave a Comment

Farm to Table with LaChance Vineyards is a highly anticipated fundraiser. It wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of these local sponsors.

Happy Harvest Sponsors: $500 level

Beautiful Blossoms Sponsors: $250 level

Vigorous Verdure Sponsors: $125 level

Dietrich-Mothershead logo

Resilient Roots Sponsors: $50 level

  • Debbie Dunnegan-Waters, Recorder of Deeds
  • Chuck and Kate Bigelow
  • Mike McGirl-State Representative; District 118

A Walk in the Woods

by Leave a Comment

Let me begin by saying that fall is not my favorite time of year. I have always liked hot weather, and fall just seems to signal a slow slide into winter and all things cold. However, one beautiful thing about fall is that it is a good time to get out into the woods. Fall mushrooms are just around the corner. Persimmons are on their way too. If you’re fortunate enough to have a paw paw tree and can beat the animals to the fruit: score! You might already have your first harvest of those.

September 15th, although technically before the start of fall, is the start of Missouri’s archery season for deer. I admit that I’m much better with hot lead than a sharp stick, but those who hunt using this primitive method usually enjoy it immensely. There are many opportunities to hunt in Missouri, but early archery season offers some fair weather and great sport. The temperatures usually require some extra care to be taken with the harvest, but that also means you won’t freeze to death while sitting in your tree stand. In anticipation of walking through woods for a successful hunt, keep these general things in mind:

  • A hunting permit is required. Make sure you have the correct permit, so you can be safe and legal in the woods. Read through applicable regulations as well.
  • No trespassing. Stay on your property, public land (where hunting is permitted), or on land where you have the permission of the landowner. The Missouri Department of Conservation has some good information on where you can hunt.
  • Ticks are still going to be a problem through September, so remember to apply repellent and do regular “tick checks”.
  • Deer stands have safety straps for a reason, and that’s all the reminder you should need about using them.
  • Shooting time starts a half hour before sunrise and ends a half hour after sunset.
  • Take a bottle of water, and keep in mind that a reusable bottle generally makes much less noise than those thin disposable crinkly ones.
  • Watch for other hunters in the woods and be mindful of what is behind your target.

Missouri’s upcoming archery season might be a good way to spend some time outside. Just take care and shoot straight.

Pre-Order Home Tour Tickets!

by Leave a Comment

November 30, 2019 will be a great day!

This year’s Christmas Home Tour is shaping up to be a great event with 11 properties on tour. Some are old; some are new; there’s even one that is blue!

Although ticket books do not officially go on sale until Saturday, September 21, 2019, you can order your tickets online beginning September 1st! They’ll be available for pick-up the day of the tour at Park View Baptist Church at 1531 Hillcrest Drive. However, it is hard to wait, and we understand. You an also pick up any ticket books that you order online at the library during their regular hours through Wednesday November 27, 2019. (Please give us a day to get your ticket book to the library before you stop by to pick it up.)

Tickets are still just $15 each in advance or 2 for $25. Of course, if you wait until after Thanksgiving, the tickets will cost you $18 each.

Tracking your child’s milestones

by Leave a Comment

Every parent wonders if their child’s develop is “normal”…at least with their first child. (It’s a bit of an uncertainty with any subsequent children.) Our pediatrician provides us with informational sheets at each appointment, and those are helpful. The worry between appointments though required multiple calls to the nurse at the pediatricians office, the lactation consultant at the hospital, and the dermatologist at big Mercy. (With the first child, of course.)

In an effort to help parents gauge their child’s milestones and eliminate some of the worry, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed an app for tracking milestones for children birth to age 5. (I’m almost certain that milestones for teenagers are tracked through snarky comments, and this app doesn’t cover that.) The app is called CDC Milestone Tracker, is free, and is available for Apple and Android devices. I tried it out, and it is very simple to use. 

It asks simple information about your child; age, gender, and name. Then, you go through a checklist of milestones for each child that you added. The questions are simple and illustrated to avoid confusion.

After answering the milestone questions, the app provides information about activities that might help with your child’s development. These are pretty simple and are designed to be easy to implement. The app also provides a summary that you can email to your pediatrician or talk about when you go in for an appointment.

Overall, it is a good tool to assess developmentally appropriate milestones based on your child’s age. Use it as needed but with a good deal of common sense. For example, my three year old has a hard time remembering that she is three because her birthday was just over a month ago. She had delays in speech, so the fact that she’s talking and says she is “two” is a win for me. The app though suggests that I speak with her pediatrician about her inability to say her name, age, and gender. That’s not a concern for me though.

Like the app says, parents know their children better than just about anybody. This app might just eliminate some worry and help you find out what really requires a more thorough assessment.